Recall petition notices issued for mayors of Wetaskiwin, Donalda, Alta.

Just days after a petition to recall the mayor of Calgary was made public, residents in at least two other Alberta municipalities are taking a closer look at their leaders.

Just days after a petition to recall the mayor of Calgary was made public, residents in at least two other Alberta municipalities are looking to recall their leaders.

On Friday, Debbie Hunker issued a notice for a recall petition she started to recall the mayor of Wetaskiwin, Tyler Gandam.

“There’s a lot of us citizens that have lost confidence in Tyler’s ability to govern impartially,” Hunker said. “We had issues with some of the voting in council, as far at the Hope Mission, that has been a real hot topic here. Even though the majority of council is against the project it’s getting pushed through anyway.”

Hunker said many residents have taken issue with the size of the facility and number of beds in the proposed shelter and felt city council, and especially the mayor, were not listening.

“Council has responded in a positive way to the opposition and they are listening to us, only the chairperson, which is our mayor, is choosing not to listen to the citizens. It’s a very high bar,” Hunker said of the recall petition. “We’ll need to get about 5,100 signatures.”

“Everything we’ve been working on over the past year seems to have come to a head,” said Tyler Gandam, mayor of Wetaskiwin. “There’s been groups, or individuals, here in Wetaskiwin who have threatened recall legislation over the past few months, so I knew it was coming eventually, and it absolutely stems from the residents and business owners who are unhappy with the (homeless) shelter, the shelter location and shelter size.”

“In the last general election here in 2021, I was very clear on my position on wanting to find a permanent solution to the homeless population here in Wetaskiwin, it was certainly part of my campaign and what I wanted to do moving forward,” Gandam said.

“It’s (recall legislation) being weaponized by members of communities for elected officials that they don’t like or they don’t agree with what they’re saying or doing,” Gandam continued. “I think the intention of the legislation was for members of council that did something so egregious that the community had a way to make sure they’re held accountable. I think disagreeing in terms of what I support for a homeless shelter is really unfortunate and it takes away from the work that our administration and council is doing.”